Cindy Wright - New Paintings

Additional Project: Hans Op de Beeck - 'Extensions'

Amsterdam

17.10.2009 - 21.11.2009

*Cindy Wright’s (Herentals BE, 1972)* large-scale portraits and still-life oil paintings on canvas play at the intersection between figuration and abstraction. At first glance these monumental paintings appear to be photo-realistic, using the photographic methods of cropping compositions and intense source lighting. But on closer inspection, only possible by physically moving up to the work, the range of mark making and painterly applications becomes astoundingly apparent. Even with this knowledge of their lush technique the paintings again become a perceptual conundrum when you step back again to view them in their entirety. They are conceptually rooted within a painting tradition that questions the nature of how we read and understand the world but are entirely contemporary in their painterly treatment. Wright’s subjects are taken from her immediate world and are transformed into iconic images for our times.

*Additional to Wright’s presentation will be the screening of Hans Op de Beeck’s emotive animated film ‘Extensions’.*

'Extensions' takes the spectator on a quiet, nocturnal travel along abandoned buildings, interiors, objects and anonymous characters that appear from and disappear into the dark. The animated film, which is made using black-and-white water-colours based on photographs taken from the Internet and images from documentaries and educational videos, shows our technology-driven and globalised environment as a dark dream, an obscure and intangible maze in which the individual tries to maintain himself by means of his rituals and habits.